Does social media avatar activism change opinions? This study says yes.
Plus: It took 187 years, but we finally have the perfect postage stamp. It’s SpongeBob.
Does social media avatar activism change opinions? This study says yes.
Brands have been accused of “slacktivism” for changing their social media profile photos to rainbow colors for Pride month or showing support for racial justice in 2020 through black squares or other graphics, but new research suggests that for some companies, avatar activism is actually better than posting about it.
Corporate activism around issues like racial equality and LGBTQ+ allyship can be sometimes difficult to navigate because of the potential to alienate from two sides: those who oppose a cause a company publicly backs, and those who support the cause but view the company’s acts of corporate activism as inauthentic. It’s especially challenging now during President Donald Trump’s second administration, and most of all for big companies that serve a broader customer base (hi, Target). Corporate Pride was in retreat this year, 19% of companies cut diversity funding as of April, and some brands are worried about the potential for conservative boycotts. For other companies, though, the humble profile photo change could still strike the right balance.
Researchers from Elon University examined why and how consumers respond to avatar activism and found changing a profile picture to support a cause has a positive impact on brand attitude, according to their study published in the journal “Psychology & Marketing.”
“A brand’s profile image on social media is a potent but underutilized and understudied communication tool,” study authors Smaraki Mohanty and Shirley Chen wrote. “As the initial point of interaction between consumers and brands on social media, profile images can effectively convey a brand’s identity and image, making a lasting association and impression.”
Across four experimental studies and one field study conducted using Facebook ads, researchers showed participants social media posts from fictional brands that either displayed support for issues like climate change, gun safety reform, and Pride, or didn’t as a control. They found profile photos that supported causes rated higher on perceptions of positive brand attitudes and brand authenticity, but not everyone was so swayed.
For those rated high on “moral identity,” or people who hold a mental representation of themselves as moral, they “tend to seek deeper, more meaningful moral engagement and may find these online gestures inadequate.” Meanwhile, “those low on moral identity were more likely to evaluate the brand as more favorable after a profile picture change.”
The studies suggested, however, that changing a social media avatar in support of an issue inspires less backlash among consumers who disagree on that issue than posting about it. That same approach also resulted in a higher click-through rate for the ad campaign that researchers ran. For some brands, maybe politics are just best kept out of the feed.
A social media account was tested with or without a banner that said “Stop Gun Violence Now” and with content posted on its page that was either in support of gun violence prevention or neutral. The study found among participants opposed to the brand’s stance on guns, the A/B test that got the most positive attitudes actually had the “Stop Gun Violence Now” banner but not the post about it, suggesting consumers might not actually hold a company’s every public social or political belief against them if they don’t agree on it.
The field test on Facebook was for BoldTee, a fictional apparel company with an Etsy shop and rainbow logo, and the results found more evidence for a soft approach to corporate activism. The campaign, which received more than 16,000 impressions, used two different graphics in an A/B test promoting a pre-launch sale, and the more toned-down version of the ad generated more clicks. The neutral ad with a graphic of a shining sun received 157 clicks compared to 114 clicks for the ad with a graphic that said “Celebrate Pride.”
Brands that ditched their Pride profile pictures this year may have been too hasty when in fact, a #newprofilepic might just be the perfect subtle act of corporate activism in today’s political climate. It won’t please everyone, but depending on the brand, it may not alienate quite as many people as you think. And to win over those high on moral identity, follow your words with action and show them you really mean what you say. You don’t even need to worry about posting about it.
In fact, it’s better if you don’t.
Previously in Yello:
It took 187 years, but we finally have the perfect postage stamp. It’s SpongeBob.
